36

Nirmohi chuckled to herself, hearing the laughter and shouts resonating in the mountains. Strolling leisurely out of her cave into the bright sunshine, she perched on her favourite rock. ‘Oh, the wonder of the way you have changed, Yamathig,’ she murmured on a laugh, patting the rock fondly. All around her, the once stony and austere mountains were lush with wilderness, luxuriant and abundant, bursting from every crack and seam. Clear water streams gushed wherever Yamathig had generously widened the crevices, and wild life teemed, arriving as if by magic.

‘You’ve been tamed, lad,’ she teased. ‘These girls got their way with you.’ Her gaze flew to a sprightly figure atop a rock shelf, the swollen belly unmistakable. ‘Anytime now and the baby will be here. It’ll be nice to hear you echo with the lusty yells of a tot.’ The mountains agreed, a quiver of excitement rippling through them. ‘Careful,’ she scolded, ‘we don’t want Dharaa tumbling down and hurting the child.’ Yamathig quietened instantly. Shading her eyes, she observed Tota help Riju construct the birthing hut. ‘It seems like only yesterday when they came here, even though it has been a few years.’

She had been exercising Saahas’s magnificent steed one afternoon when the horse had slipped, sending a shower of small rocks tumbling down. Hearing a sharp cry from below, she had sent a few of the brigade to investigate. The men had returned soon, bringing with them Riju and Dharaa and a band of warrior women.

‘They know sire, Your Highness, they met him,’ the brigade cried, delighted to introduce the young couple. ‘He helped them escape Aham.’

‘We were hoping to find him here,’ Riju sighed, forlorn.

Nirmohi smiled her welcome, ‘His friends and allies have started to find each other. I would say it is a good omen.’ Everyone brightened immediately, bursting with questions but she held up a hand. ‘You are all gathering here for a reason,’ she said, her gaze penetrating. ‘To prepare for the time which is sure to come.’

‘The feminine intrusion wasn’t to your liking,’ Nirmohi’s voice was full of amusement. ‘You the bachelor, the ascetic, so cold and aloof,’ she mocked Yamathig. ‘You made it quite difficult for the girls, growing taller and more rugged each day, more inaccessible. So proud and stern, then what changed you?’

It had been the happy giggles, the soft touch, the light voices raised in song. Yamathig had tried ignoring them, but one day, Dharaa and the girls, climbing the mountain face, had sung its praise, describing the glorious mist clinging to the purple-brown rocks. Yamathig had sighed, and unable to resist the rush of joy, softened like wet clay, submitting to the women like an adoring puppy. Soon after had appeared the first sign of greenery, a blade of grass peeping with some difficulty from amongst the hard-edged stones. Yamathig had sniffed it, curiously pawed it and lost its heart. Rolling away the tough boulders, it had made way for the plants to sprout.

‘Aranya, that’s her name,’ Nirmohi said. ‘She springs up wherever she hears the sound of happy women, drawing strength from their laughter to pierce even adamantine walls. And when the girls leave, she will follow them, leaving a thick mantle of green in her wake, the only sign they were ever here.’ Watching the men and women cavort in the high cliffs, she smiled. ‘We will miss them, won’t we?’ The mountains grunted a dismal sigh, shifting imperceptibly as if to close all exits.

Nirmohi stiffened, a sharp line appearing between her brows, her grey-green eyes darkening to black. ‘I am sensing something, Yamathig. Something unexpected. Saahas may not return. No, surely I am mistaken. But still, what if . . .?’ She stopped, shaking her head, the silver hair tousling around her youthful face. ‘This anxiety is so unlike me.’ She frowned again. ‘It is too strong, this feeling. I should go back to my cave and meditate.’

‘And that is when I snapped awake,’ Destiny smiles ruefully. ‘I knew Nirmohi could not be wrong and my watch showed that the Saade Saati would end in twelve months. Saahas had to begin the return journey. There was so much to be done. So,’ she sighs, ‘I picked up the dice once more and shaking my wrist, threw it down.’

‘Ninety-nine, hundred, hundred and one. A hundred and one shining knots,’ he exclaimed, looking at the tangled, luminous web tight around his heart. ‘So beautiful, and yet . . . sad.’ He marvelled at the blood-red throbbing gem glowing through the criss-cross of knots, his heart beating to the continuous chant of ‘Aham’. One knot in particular drew his attention. Untying itself languidly, it curled away from the heart, streaking a straight, brilliant path towards his head. Saahas followed, bounding after it and soon grasped its shiny tail.

Pulled along effortlessly, an unexpected delight washed over him and like a child, he began to exult in the ride. The string blazed on, lighting up the stars and planets, the entire universe within him. Laughing aloud, Saahas bounced over one sun and the next, shouting ‘I am, I am’. Suddenly, the string dissolved, leaving him adrift on a vibrant, live current. The pulsating stream expanded around him, inside him, buoying him, tickling him. Surrendering to it, he began to frolic, like a fish released from a bowl into a translucent ocean.

‘Freedom,’ he sang and a loud twang, such as the snapping of strings, resounded in his ears. The knots around his heart had broken and fallen apart, and freed from the incarceration, his heart blossomed, a big, ruby-red lotus. Its gently waving petals gathered him, pulling him within. The lotus closed, ‘Aham’ swallowed into silence, and as he gazed in wonder at the pure brightness inside the flower, bliss, the kind he had never known, suffused him. It was even more heady than the joy he had known moments ago.

A clear dewdrop emerged from this brightness and sailed towards him, kissing him lightly on the mouth. It tasted sweet and as it slipped down his throat, Saahas burst into a million dewdrops, becoming one with the light. The lotus bloomed again, this time in pure white splendour. One echo, unlike any other, a sound and yet not one, reverberated from its depths. ‘Aum, Aum, Aum.’ ‘It is I,’ the light of Aum declared. ‘The soul of your soul, the life of your life. It is I indeed, the purest, the truest, the infinite, the boundless Self of Aham. Everything and everywhere is I, the One without a second.’

‘Aum,’ he intoned aloud, his eyes opening bright.

‘You have touched the infinite,’ Tathakim observed with interest, ‘and become fearless.’

‘Indeed yes, master,’ he laughed quietly, his entire being sparkling with an ethereal light. ‘I feel as if in one gulp I have swallowed the entire universe, so vast and limitless do I feel as if time and space have no meaning.’

‘Sire,’ choked a familiar voice and Saahas rose quickly to embrace Bhuma.

‘You have become so frail! What is this? Why do you weep? Look, I am well. In fact, I’ve never been better.’

‘He has served you devotedly these past years,’ Tathakim said with a smile. ‘Grooming you, feeding you, watching over you.’

‘Did you say years, master? The body certainly feels stiff and this stomach,’ Saahas patted his midriff, ‘growls with a terrible hunger.’

Tathakim’s mouth twitched. ‘I am not surprised! Two years is a long time.’

‘Two years—’ Saahas broke off, the fragrance of food assailing his nostrils. His mouth watered.

‘Sire,’ Bhuma wiggled his shoulders. ‘A royal feast has been prepared for you, a celebration!’

‘And we have a guest too,’ Tathakim added with a twinkle, moving aside. ‘A queen you are well-acquainted with.’

‘Mausi!’ Saahas hastened to touch Nirmohi’s feet. ‘What brings you here?’

Patting his head, she laughed her pleasant, throaty chuckle, ‘I will tell you later. First, let us eat.’

A haunting cry faded into the dusk, the bird winging its way home. ‘She’s bound for the west,’ Nirmohi murmured, watching the flapping speck disappear into the darkening sky. ‘It is time for you to head back too.’

Saahas glanced at her, puzzled, ‘Go back where, mausi?’

‘To your kingdom, son. You have a duty to fulfil.’

‘Kingdom . . . duty . . .’ he repeated the words slowly, searching his memory for their echoes. She took the opportunity to study him, delighting in the sight of him. It was as if he had been born anew, the old Saahas swallowed, absorbed in the ever-expanding light that glowed from within him, his eyes larger than before, serene.

‘The Saade Saati is coming to an end,’ she added softly, ‘and Aum has to be restored. Only you can do it. That is why I am here.’

‘Restore Aum?’ Saahas shot her a quizzical smile and pulled on his chillum. ‘Aum is, mausi, and you know that better than anyone else.’

Stifling a sigh, she stepped up to him, her lips brushing his ear. ‘Saahasvajra,’ she whispered, ‘son of General Meghabhuti, heir of King Vasuket, wake up! Go rout your enemies, dispel the darkness of Aham.’

The names dislodged buried memories from a deep recess, and they hurtled back, playing out scene after lurid scene before his eyes. At first, he watched dispassionately, piecing the information together, like a historical record. But the cries of the wretched pierced him, filling his heart with pity. ‘Rrum,’ he whispered, closing his eyes, beckoning the rainbow fire. A single flame ignited within the quietude of his mind, leaping out and dancing before him.

He opened his eyes and caught it between his fingers. ‘I will return, mausi,’ he declared, consigning Rrum to a thin branch, watching it flare into a blazing torch. ‘I will bring this fire to the people. It will burn up their suffering, as it did mine.’

‘These people are your very own, son. Misled and misguided, they have lost their way. You, their true king, must save them.’

‘Bless me then and I shall take leave of Master Tathakim at once.’

‘I became certain then that Saahas could not escape me,’ Destiny says, shooting us a sly glance. ‘My will is supreme and he, like everyone else, had to bend to it.’